This invention relates to a process for making polyfluorfullerene and to compositions comprising polyfluorfullerene.
This application is based on German Patent Application File No. 195 18 005.4, whose disclosure is incorporated herein in its entirety.
Polyfluorfullerenes are derived from the fullerenes.
This new substance class consisting of C.sub.60, C.sub.70 fullerenes was documented as existing for the first time in 1985 by means of mass spectroscopy investigations (H. W. Kroto, J. R. Heath, S. C. O'Brien, R. F. Curl, R. E. Smalley, Nature 1985, 318, 162) and the first macroscopic quantities were made in 1990 (W. Kraschmer, L. D. Lamb, K. Fostiropoulos, D. R. Huffman, Nature 1990, 347, 354).
Until the present invention, polyfluorfullerenes were obtained from solid fullerene by treating a solution of fullerene in dichloromethane with XeF.sub.2 or due to the action of F.sub.2 gas at low pressure (D. A. Dizon, N. Matsuzawa, T. Fukunaga, F. N. Tebbe, J. Phys Chem. 1992, 96, 6107, J. H. Holloway, E. G. Hope, R. Taylor, G. L. Langley, A. G. Advent, T. J. Dennis, J. H. Hare, H. W. Kroto, D. M. Walton, J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun. 1991, 966; H. Selig, C. Lifshitz, T. Peres, J. E. Fischer, A. R. McGhie, W. J. Romanov, J. P. McCauley Jr., A. B. Smith III, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 5476).
In the process, polyfluorfullerenes were obtained with a varying degree of fluorination having the empirical formula C.sub.m F.sub.2n, where m, n are natural numbers with m=60 or 70 and n=15-35, but can vary both below and above the given range. For example, a hyperfluorinated fullerene with n=51 and the general empirical formula C.sub.60 F.sub.102 has already been documented by way of mass spectroscopy. Fullerenes with m&gt;70 and the corresponding fluorinated compounds are also possible.
Fullerene Sci. Technol. (1993), 1 (4), 499-535 discloses comprehensive investigation results pertaining to the manufacture of polyfluorfullerene due to the action of F.sub.2 gas upon solid fullerene with reaction times, temperature and the F.sub.2 being varied. Both pure C.sub.60 fullerene and a mixture of C.sub.60 /C.sub.70 fullerene were used as initial compounds.
With relation to the use of the new substance class of polyfluorfullerenes, Derwent Abstr. No. 94-071 652/09 discloses that in JP 060 24720-A, polyfluorfullerene is made by means of the action of F.sub.2 gas on fullerene in the presence of hydrogen fluoride and the resulting polyfluorfullerene is suitable as a lubricant or as additive for lubricants. No other uses of polyfluorfullerenes have been described thus far.